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First of all I am obviously back from holiday. And what an amazing break it was. We stayed in two seperate cottages, the first one in a small village just outside Snowdonia was a marvel! It was a converted chapel that was very beautifully restored making it modern yet keeping it's original features. The way it was furnished had something to do with it. Llan chapel in Llanerfyl keep that name in mind if you ever want to go to Wales. And the weather gods did look down kindly on us. Besides the first sunday we had dry weather every time we needed it. It would rain on travel days, evenings and time spend driving towards an attraction and would be great when we got there. So I had a nice mix of activies that give me joy. Visit castles and churches, spend time with friends and meet up with friends in Britain.
Once back I gave myself a few days to gently ease myself back into work again. Rushing has never worked for me. Like more people who are selfemployed, summer is not the busiest time of the year. Clients tend to also go on holiday and tutoring also stops during the summer. An organized person is not shocked or panicked by this development. Instead summer gives you the time to get to the tasks that are left behind during the rest of the year. Being an organised person it certainly works that way for me.
During the summer months I do allow myself a gentler space to also enjoy the good weather and spend time with friends. [One highlight this year will be my Lithuanian friends coming over for a midweek] And I make a scedule of all the small tasks I would like to finish during the summer.
For me these include:
- More time to read! As a counsellor & Coach there are always new books to read. More information that you can use to make your practice even better.
- Prepare for my tutoring duties in the fall.
- Take an online class in effective writing and after that overhaul my website once more.
- But also clear away clutter from my home. This might not seem like work but having more space in my house leads to more room in my head.
Next to my normal duties, this will be more than enough to keep me occupied this summer.
If you like, please share what your plans are for this summer.
It's that time of year again for me! Tomorrow I leave for my summer holiday. [And no I am not leaving an empty house!]
For me it is an essential part of my life. I don't really mind if it is not some expensive far away location but something closer by. As long as I am away from my daily routine. This year I am going to Wales and Kent. Two places that I love very much.
Going on vacation has changed over the last couple of years. When I was young you just packed your clothes, toiletries, travel documents, passport and a camera. Of course there were challenges as well. In the old days you needed to get foreign money before you left or travel cheques and hen trying to find banks while you travelled. On the weekend, you had a problem if you ran out of money as banks generally were not open on saturday.
Image by P3tro via Flickr
This year I will be wifi less for the first week, deep in the wilderness of North Wales. The next and last 4 days I will have wifi and I will have to work one evening. But this choice feels good to me.
So what do you do on holiday?
[My next post will be in the last week of June]
When reading the latest issue of my favorite online magazine TILT [It's free so check it out!] I came across a very interesting article about the use of gaming within phsychotherapy. When you hear about gamers in the media it is usually negative. many incidents like school shootings are linked to kids playing games and being influenced by them. Games make them loose their grip on reality and so forth. The same with roleplayers, when they are portraid in series or movies it is often to make them look like sad little geeks.
The article mentions the other side of gamers. People who play games online are part of a society, they have friends online that they can turn to in times of need. Those online friends are important to them and the article rightly states that therapists need to know about these online worlds to truely be able to understand their clients.If not they are missing a large chunk out of the life of their clients. I strongly applaud this. Yes I will admit to being a gamer both online and offline and I am a roleplayer.
In part II of this article I will bring evidence of how the playing of games and the friends you make can have a very positive affect on people as well. I have asked gaming friends to share their stories with me. If you are a gamer reading this feel free to contact me as well on info@safehavencoaching.eu.
I think it is high time that this positive side of the gaming community gets more attention.
For now I will share my experience with you. As a teenager I was very insecure and was bullied in school because I was not interested in boys and make-up like the other girls. I was interested in learning, books and fantasy. We did not have computers in those days but when I was in my early twenties I found a roleplaying group in my hometown. For the first time in many years I was able to be myself in a group and find like minded people! 20 years on some of these people are my best friends. This shows that gaming can be a very social thing and also a means to blow off steam for those who do not always feel at home in our modern society. Being able to pretend to be somebody else for a few hours per week can be very refreshing. You might be surprised to find that many roleplayers are highly educated people who hold down good jobs and are perfectly sane.
Through sharing my own story I have hope to show that gaming is social, alleviates stress and helps you make friends. What is not to like?
Once back I gave myself a few days to gently ease myself back into work again. Rushing has never worked for me. Like more people who are selfemployed, summer is not the busiest time of the year. Clients tend to also go on holiday and tutoring also stops during the summer. An organized person is not shocked or panicked by this development. Instead summer gives you the time to get to the tasks that are left behind during the rest of the year. Being an organised person it certainly works that way for me.
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